10-23-2015, 12:47 PM
Hi guys! Awesome posts this week, I was looking forward to color :D Unfortunately, I am surviving midterm season right now and this assignment will be a few days late.
ZombieChinchilla -- Great job with the variety of shapes and values! You have picked very attractive palettes with a good, full range. Something to keep in mind: the darker you make your initial sketch, the harder it would be to color it (leaving you with a lot of "muddy" colors). Another thing to watch out for is the light direction: I am confused as to why the bottom of the island is so dark on the daylight piece. My guess is you have been picking values from the castle reference. If you observe that castle on the island carefully (the middle vertical one on the bottom set), you will notice that sunlight has a direction -- up and from the left. The right side of the castle is lit by the light of the sky (also reflected from the water) that bounces onto the walls. Be especially careful when observing these things!
Bart -- these moods read instantly! Great use of softer edges on the sunset to create an illusion of a haze, and the rim light on the moonlit piece. I think the second color sketch is your most successful one.
Lordminkx -- that third one is fantastic! I love how you used a texture to depict a scattering underlit effect. Having said that, do not be afraid to push color on your "daylights" -- you left it a bit desaturated and overcast, but I feel like it could really benefit from sone sun-spots especially on the mountains. Look to your reference: these breaks in the clouds can be used as theatrical spotlights to frame your composition very nicely :D
wasgodx -- these are so simple but so good! I like the dusk one especially. All of them remind me of Disney's backgrounds, a little more simplified but still easy and engaging to read. I wish you have played with the broken ruins/windows of the "panthenon" in your first B&W sketch more... some really cool shadow and light patterns, worth exploring!
TwilightExplode -- I wish they were bigger so I could see more of them :'D Brilliant mood, so dramatic and striking. You used very simple palettes to their full advantage.
U-3C -- HOLY SHIT DUDE this is a hell of a kick in the ass to me-- I can seriously see no wrong, ahaha. Awesome awesome awesome use of reference, drama, and realism. Maybe push the foreground elements to be a touch crisper, otherwise, fuck yes, nailed it.
Aumes -- These studies are so useful!! Definitely save them for later, what a cool little cheat sheet. Ease up on the dodge/burn! It's better to learn to paint these colors in, imo, that is why your end-afternoon sketch looks the strongest to me, I think. I also feel like the (late sunset) piece would cause the robot to be in more shadow... since it is standing in the same shadow as the afternoon, it would be mostly blue.
Cyprinus -- I do feel like they are a liiiittle too dark so you don't have a lot of space to explore all that wonderful range of color you have otherwise! This is where I would suggest not looking at photos but painting from life: you will instantly see just HOW MUCH light there is in the shadows, how colorful they can be. Your second piece, in that, is the most successful. Try starting with a sketch that has less contrast, or manually toning it down. The key is to color pick your darkest darks at any point and never go beyond an "8" on the lightness scale. If that doesn't make sense, hmu, but I am basically referring to Photoshop's color sliders.
I'll post more crits when I have the time :'D OTOH school has me running around doing plein airs a lot, so I would love to share these with you guys, hopefully the stuff I talk about in terms of color in shadows and capturing correct temperatures will make more sense!
ZombieChinchilla -- Great job with the variety of shapes and values! You have picked very attractive palettes with a good, full range. Something to keep in mind: the darker you make your initial sketch, the harder it would be to color it (leaving you with a lot of "muddy" colors). Another thing to watch out for is the light direction: I am confused as to why the bottom of the island is so dark on the daylight piece. My guess is you have been picking values from the castle reference. If you observe that castle on the island carefully (the middle vertical one on the bottom set), you will notice that sunlight has a direction -- up and from the left. The right side of the castle is lit by the light of the sky (also reflected from the water) that bounces onto the walls. Be especially careful when observing these things!
Bart -- these moods read instantly! Great use of softer edges on the sunset to create an illusion of a haze, and the rim light on the moonlit piece. I think the second color sketch is your most successful one.
Lordminkx -- that third one is fantastic! I love how you used a texture to depict a scattering underlit effect. Having said that, do not be afraid to push color on your "daylights" -- you left it a bit desaturated and overcast, but I feel like it could really benefit from sone sun-spots especially on the mountains. Look to your reference: these breaks in the clouds can be used as theatrical spotlights to frame your composition very nicely :D
wasgodx -- these are so simple but so good! I like the dusk one especially. All of them remind me of Disney's backgrounds, a little more simplified but still easy and engaging to read. I wish you have played with the broken ruins/windows of the "panthenon" in your first B&W sketch more... some really cool shadow and light patterns, worth exploring!
TwilightExplode -- I wish they were bigger so I could see more of them :'D Brilliant mood, so dramatic and striking. You used very simple palettes to their full advantage.
U-3C -- HOLY SHIT DUDE this is a hell of a kick in the ass to me-- I can seriously see no wrong, ahaha. Awesome awesome awesome use of reference, drama, and realism. Maybe push the foreground elements to be a touch crisper, otherwise, fuck yes, nailed it.
Aumes -- These studies are so useful!! Definitely save them for later, what a cool little cheat sheet. Ease up on the dodge/burn! It's better to learn to paint these colors in, imo, that is why your end-afternoon sketch looks the strongest to me, I think. I also feel like the (late sunset) piece would cause the robot to be in more shadow... since it is standing in the same shadow as the afternoon, it would be mostly blue.
Cyprinus -- I do feel like they are a liiiittle too dark so you don't have a lot of space to explore all that wonderful range of color you have otherwise! This is where I would suggest not looking at photos but painting from life: you will instantly see just HOW MUCH light there is in the shadows, how colorful they can be. Your second piece, in that, is the most successful. Try starting with a sketch that has less contrast, or manually toning it down. The key is to color pick your darkest darks at any point and never go beyond an "8" on the lightness scale. If that doesn't make sense, hmu, but I am basically referring to Photoshop's color sliders.
I'll post more crits when I have the time :'D OTOH school has me running around doing plein airs a lot, so I would love to share these with you guys, hopefully the stuff I talk about in terms of color in shadows and capturing correct temperatures will make more sense!